96 MARVELS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD 



at least 600 years B.C. Pliny, Aristotle, and 

 Martial all mention the sport as being practised 

 in Europe during their time (between 384 B.C. and 

 A.D. 40), while its introduction into England from 

 the Continent is believed to have taken place during 

 the reign of the Saxon monarch King Ethelbert, 

 about the year 860. King Alfred the Great wrote 

 a treatise upon falconry and the management of 

 hawks, and Edward the Confessor is said to have 

 spent most of his leisure in hunting and hawking. 

 Henry Vill was also very fond of hawking, and we 

 read that * on one occasion it bade fair to be his 

 death ; for, being in pursuit of his game afoot, at 

 Hitchin, in Hertfordshire, and attempting to leap 

 a ditch by the aid of a pole, the treacherous stick 

 snapped as Henry was at the height of his vault, 

 and down he plumped, so that his head was buried 

 in the mud. A friendly footman happened to be 

 at hand, or there would have been an end to the 

 King's hawking.' 



Many laws were passed at various times to regulate 

 the sport, and King William I proclaimed that only 

 those people of high rank were to be allowed to 

 indulge in the practice. This restriction, however, 

 was repealed during the reign of King John. Henry 

 Vil made it an offence for any one to take the eggs 

 from the nest of a falcon or hawk, and should an 

 offender be caught in the act he was imprisoned 

 for a year and a day, and had to pay a heavy fine. 



During the reign of Henry VIII, wild hawks 

 and kites were frequently to be seen in London, 

 and on account of the good service they rendered 



